Gone
by Infinite Snow
Summary: People would write about how a couple years after the bathhouse incident, he would bring her back. But what if he didn't? This love story would have a different ending.


" _Do you promise we'll meet again?" Chihiro's eyes held uncertainty as she looked at the grassy field and back to Haku again, her face morphed with fear._

 _Haku grasped her hand slightly. If that would be the last time he felt her hand, he might as well relish it. Jutting her hand out, he gave her a playful shove._

" _Yes. Now go, and don't look back!" Haku said each word extremely hard to squeeze out._

 _Chihiro looked at him, searching his eyes, searching for the truth to compliment his words. She knew that his smile was a mere shield to his true emotions but his eyes were like an open book, something that Yubaba didn't have the skill to decode._

 _Chihiro knew she wouldn't see Haku again. It wouldn't happen. After all, a human and a spirit can't be together._

 _But she bit her tongue, nodded and let go of his hand, not looking back once, even when she was tempted to._

-x-

He watched her from afar. He watched as she grew from an awkward girl to a blooming woman of her twenties.

About the time she would be courted.

"Another note again?" Chihiro sighed.

"Hey you gotta admit he is a hottie, the university heartthrob," Misaki grinned, toying with the envelope within her thumb and index finger.

"This is college, not high school, thought that stuff was behind us now," Chihiro scoffed.

"Well you never had a boyfriend before, so why not date? Be in a relationship? And do NOT bring up that weird dragon dude up!" Misaki wagged her index finger.

"He isn't an imaginary thing, even though you demand otherwise," Chihiro sighed, "You don't understand, Misaki. I really loved him and I still do. It was a shame we couldn't be together."

"Chihiro, if what you are saying is true, then he is a spirit and you are a human. There is no way for you two to be together unless you die and become one," Misaki sighed.

"I don't know, but I do know that I don't like him the way you would want me to," Chihiro grumbled, "And besides, do you know how conceited that guy is?"

"Give Len a chance! At least ONE date, if you don't like him, then just avoid him afterwards," Misaki said, "I will break the news to him for you even."

"One condition," Chihiro said, "We double date. You and your boyfriend tag along as well."

"Deal, sister," Misaki grinned.

-x-

Years passed. She was nearing the age of 29. No husband, fiancé, nor even a boyfriend. It was around the age that her parents were becoming a little concerned. They were happy that she achieved a doctoral degree in nursing, but they were a bit concerned that she was a single, successful woman.

"Chihiro, honey, can we talk to you for a second?" Yuuko asked.

"Yes, mother, what do you need?" Chihiro asked.

"You need to get married," Akio blurted out.

"So much for being elusive," Yuuko threw her hands up.

"Sometimes you got to rip the band aid off," Akio argued. (Quote from WOWP, if you know… Alex Russo…)

"Well I thought she would be a little sensitive to these kinds of things, you can't just rudely put it out there!" Yuuko said.

"Well, I am not getting married, and that is final," Chihiro snapped, getting up from her seat and walking upstairs.

Yuuko started to follow her, "Honey, I know you still love this Haku-"

"DON'T mention his name!" Chihiro's blue eyes flashed angrily.

"But you need to move on! If what you say is true, he is a spirit! And you are a human!" Akio yelled.

"I don't want to marry someone I don't love," Chihiro said, "You and mom love each other, that is why you two got married. Can't you expect the same for me?"

Akio and Yuuko had nothing to say, as Chihiro was on point.

"Go… adopt a baby boy and call him your son if I am such a burden on you," Chihiro said, tears welling in her eyes, "Because this girl won't bring any fortune for you because she won't marry anyone."

And with that, Chihiro rushed upstairs, ignoring the protests of her parents to come downstairs. Locking the door behind her, Chihiro gasped air and sunk to the floor.

"19 years, Kohaku," Chihiro wept into her hands, "19 years and counting. How long do you want to wait?"

-x-

Six years passed by. Chihiro, with much convincing from her best friend, moved out of her parent's house and into the city, near her best friend and her family.

Misaki gave birth to Hiro, who she proclaimed Chihiro the godmother of.

"You should come!" Misaki squealed, "For dinner tonight!"

"Are you sure? I don't want to be a burden," Chihiro said.

"Nonsense! Come! Hiro wants to play with you!" Misaki insisted.

"Well if you say so…" Chihiro said.

After dinner that night, Misaki and her husband went to the ice cream parlor to get dessert. That left Chihiro and Hiro in the play room.

"Auntie?" Hiro asked.

"Yes, Hiro?" Chihiro replied.

"Why do you draw a dragon all the time?" Hiro asked, referring to the sketch Chihiro was making.

"He's a spirit," Chihiro said, "My childhood friend."

"Oh," the six year old said, "Do you miss him?"

"Every day I think about him," Chihiro nodded, struggling to keep her voice steady as her chest tightened, "Not one day passes that his name doesn't cross my mind."

"Do you love him?"

Hiro's question struck her. Of course it wasn't some kind of revelation. Chihiro loved Haku as clear as day and night. But the fact that a six year old was able to pick up the subtle hint was shocking.

"I do," Chihiro nodded, "But nobody believes he will come back for me."

"If he loves you and you love him, then he won't leave you behind," Hiro said, cocking his head to one side, "Simple as that."

Hiro didn't know the whole story between the two. But his pure words soothed her heart. At least one person had faith in them together, no matter how long it takes.

"You're a sweet person, you know that?" Chihiro smiled, "You will have a bright life ahead of you."

Before Hiro could reply to that, the door opened and Misaki's voice traveled throughout the house, announcing they got the ice cream.

-x-

Fourteen more years drifted by in the blink of an eye.

Hiro, who Chihiro held as a baby, who Chihiro played with as a child and teased as he went through his awkward phase of teenage years, was a beautiful young man of 20, who had his own girlfriend of 4 years, and planned on proposing to.

"It was only yesterday I held him in my arms in the maternity ward," Misaki cried, looking at the Facebook post of Hiro's, confirming his engagement to Mao.

Chihiro patted Misaki's arm comfortingly, "And it will be soon that you will become a grandmother."

"Oh, how beautiful the baby will be," Misaki cried. She approved of Mao, because the girl was so perfect for Hiro in so many ways she couldn't remember.

"It will be like holding your own child all over again," Chihiro smiled.

"I can't wait for that to happen," Misaki smiled.

-x-

Chihiro was now old, dying, and on her deathbed. People were praying she would miraculously survive, but she knew her time was coming. After all, 80 was a good life.

Somehow, she was happy about letting go. That would mean she would become a spirit and possibly see Haku again, even though he fell in love with someone else, at least she would see his face one more time.

"I'm coming," Chihiro faintly breathed, as her field blackened, her breathing became faint, and her eyelids became heavy.

She was gone.

-x-

Chihiro woke up to someone stroking her face. She could hear the rushing of a river to her right.

Forcing her eyes open, Chihiro gasped to find the 12 year old Haku next to her, smiling as he played with her hair.

"Haku? Is this a dream?" Chihiro gasped.

"No it isn't," Haku shook his head, "You passed away in the human world and you are now a spirit. Like me."

"But you are a spirit of a river. I can't possibly be…" Chihiro trailed off.

"No. Look."

Haku pointed to another equally powerful river merging in with the Kohaku river. That was her river.

"That's your river. And this is my river. They are now one. And so are we," Haku took Chihiro in his arms as the now 10 year old girl cried in his arms.

"Why didn't you come back for me?" Chihiro cried, "I waited my whole life!"

"I was always there with you," Haku said, "And did you know how hard it was to just watch you for 70 years?"

"You were watching me? At least why didn't you try to talk to me? I felt so isolated without you," Chihiro's eyes watered up.

"I know. I know how you felt. But I was waiting for you. When your soul would come to the spirit world, I would come for you, and then we could be together," Haku said.

"But where did this river come from? I don't remember seeing it…"

"Right after you died, this river sprang up from nowhere and merged with mine," Haku said, "It meant that we belong with each other."

Chihiro stopped crying and her face lighted up, for the first time in 70 years. Haku simply held his hand out for his lover to take.

"Shall we?" Haku asked.

"We shall."

Together, they both drifted into the waters of their rivers, becoming one soul, just like the way their rivers mixed. And for eternity, they never left each other. Such a powerful love no other creature in the galaxy could even imitate.

 _-fin-_


End file.
